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NAMM: Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 and Mopho X4

Dave Smith Instruments is one of my perennial stops at NAMM. This year they introduced two new keyboard instruments, the Prophet 12 and Mopho X4.

The Prophet 12 is gorgeous, but is also a powerful synthesizer. It’s odd to think of twelve voices of polyphony as a lot, but then one must consider that DSI synths are often monophonic. I did of course have to get my hands on one of these:

It plays very smoothly, both from the keyboard and while turning the knobs. I particularly liked the tuned feedback combined with both the highpass and lowpass filters. It was simultaneously a nasty sound but also very polished and playable.

The Mopho X4 was also fun. It is basically a four-voice version of the popular monosynth with a new physical design:

It plays like the original Mopho, very punchy and thick. It doesn’t quite have the smoothness of the Prophet, but it is not supposed to.

As usual, I wouldn’t mind having one of these myself, but they don’t come cheap. We will have to see…